Change of classes

For a variety of reasons I wish every student changed classes at semester. 18 weeks of getting stuck with the same people - both classmates and teacher - seems long enough. Putting the same people together for almost any length of time over an hour is an interesting dynamic. You know who is going to speak first, tell the first joke and be bored the quickest. I doubt that in a group setting there are many occasions when one person sits with, talks with and stays with the same people for very long. We like variety and we are interested in what others have to say.

There is safety in the familiar. Those who are quiet stay that way. Those who have decided to be the class clown in the first five minutes of the first day stays that way. The people that just drive me nuts only do so longer. Mixing the group dynamics is beneficial to many students as their parents know from their own lives.

However, what does destroy the world through class change is "this is my favorite lunch time." I am comfortable being at the top (or bottom) of that class. All my friends are in that one (you have 6,000 Facebook friends and I bet they are all not in that class.) Sometimes the desire not to change classes is even based on girl-boy friend situations. Yes, that is still true. And we know how long all those stay constant in a year's time.

So we change some schedules at the start of the semester and there are a few outcries of pain and suffering from the event. I have yet to find a counselor or teacher who says that morning - this is my list of students I am going to make miserable today. And we sure are not interested in the extra work that schedule changes create unless they are absolutely necessary.

There are many reasons to like or dislike that teacher or that class. Having the opportunity to experience a variety of situations and personalities is also productive.